How do the UK government childcare policies compare with other countries? It depends on what is compared and when the comparison was undertaken. In most countries, childcare systems are continually being reviewed in response to particular issues, for example because of the rapid rise of women in the workforce, or plummeting birth rates, or fiscal crises, or a new push for neoliberal policies favouring privatization, or the most recent research on child outcomes after the COVID-19 pandemic. There are also international bodies who are concerned with childcare – the OECD, the EU, UNICEF, the World Bank and innumerable American thinktanks.

The UK government published a review in 2013 suggesting that the UK was doing rather well on the international front: ‘The UK is either performing at the same level or higher than the other countries in the study on the structural indicators.’ The structural indicators were child–staff ratios, staff training, level of regulation and collection of data, government strategy and investment, and national preschool curriculum. It is not altogether clear how these various indicators were arrived at, but, using them, the UK performed well – although the authors acknowledge that the performance level was not reflected in the data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), the most commonly used international measure of educational performance. This research was also collecting data largely pertaining to performance under the Labour government before 2010.

Whatever the reason for the contrast, the most recent and substantial international league table, from the UNICEF Innocenti Centre ‘Where do Rich Countries Stand on Childcare?’, published in 2022 and taking account of data from the COVID-19 period, puts the UK 36th out of 41 developed countries. The Innocenti Centre in Florence is UNICEF's major research centre. It has been monitoring conditions for children for many years, and its research findings are internationally respected and have wide application.

The UNICEF score is partly based on the legislation enacted in each country, and takes a much broader view of the conditions that facilitate childcare and women working. The ranking criteria are made up of four aspects: (1) maternal and parental leave arrangements, (2) access for children under 3 years old, and for children beginning education, (3) quality based on ratios and teacher qualifications, and (4) affordability for a two-earner family and for a single-parent family.